


Bloodletting

by flecksofpoppy



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, Double Drabble, Gen, Tumblr Ask Box Fic, Tumblr Prompt, human condition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-25
Updated: 2014-01-25
Packaged: 2018-01-10 00:27:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1152630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flecksofpoppy/pseuds/flecksofpoppy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the "send me a word" drabble ask meme. (Brontide - The low rumbling of distant thunder.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bloodletting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [deadcellredux](https://archiveofourown.org/users/deadcellredux/gifts).



The world outside the wall is particularly vivid to Armin on days he’s been beaten. There’s no better way to disappear than through dreaming, like mist after rain.

He’s never been sure why they pick on him; it’s only been his friends who’ve shown him reasons to look beyond books.

Sometimes, though, when Eren and Mikasa aren’t there to protect him, Armin huddles underneath fences to escape children’s taunts.

He traces lines in the dirt that mimic the books he’s read about the outside, and with the thunder and rain, he can only watch helplessly as his drawings are erased.

= = =

At first, the world outside the wall is a few nervous glances back _toward_ the wall; then horses, sweat, blue sky, and _terror_ , are all that live in Armin’s head.

Hours later, insignias are all that remain on many bodies.

When no one is looking, between tears and strength and loss, he traces the lines of memorized rivers and forest edges into the dirt with the toe of his boot.

Carrion birds call as they glide overhead, and Armin knows that when blood and rain clear the land, so too will his footsteps vanish to make way for new mapmakers.


End file.
